I've just got back from a walk and I know that field springers are often different sizes but when I was approached by a Blue Roan cocker - he looked like a B&W Springer :? So is it me or are Cockers ears not as long as they used to be? And why are their snouts as long as Springers? I'm confused :-/
Springers and cockers used to come from the same dogs, and were decided on by weight, can't remember without looking up exactly what weight it was, but in 1910, they split the 'field' spaniels in to the various breeds. So you still get liver and white, and black and white cockers, and there is a variation in the sizes. Then of course, you've got a huge split between working/show and anything bred by Joe Bloggs as a pet.
Not sure what you mean by a "field springer" but working spaniels often look entirely different to show ones (the ears on a show cocker would seriously hamper a sniffer dog) and I have seen several working cockers that look springer like. Also many people deliberately breed "sprockers" (cocker x springer) for work.......
I was going to say a working Cocker because they seem to look completly different from what my Blue roan did.
Field springers = working too lol I go by the American way of telling springers apart: Field and Bench, instead of working and showing. Maybe I'm used to seeing show cockers instead of workers I'm used to seeing english Cockers like this: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&biw=1366&bih=575 And the one I saw today was like this: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgu...cn5CA&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0 Maybe thats why - I know theres a difference between english and american cockers though. I guess I'm a bit behind in my spaniels LOL I Used to walk a long eared Blue roan so I guess thats where my idea of Cockers came from - it's oki - confusion gone now
Since when did Cockers look like Springers? Since people bred any old Spaniel to any old Spaniel without giving a second thought to breed type!
Im confused are you saying field spaniels or springers as there two totally different breeds. Could be a working springer or even a sprocker they appear to be all shapes and sizes
I know you get field spaniels but I go by the American terms for Springers which are Field = working and Bench = Showing Spaniels are confusing - I like being able to tell them apart
Don't put your foot in it like I did last week - saw an adorable liver-coloured spaniel puppy and couldn't quite decide what it was, so I asked if it was a Working Cocker.... Turns out it was a 15wk old Field Spaniel, a very rare breed nowadays!
Some people use the word 'Field' when refering to Working Springer Spaniels. Field as in 'Field Trial' Springer. A Field Spaniel is obviously a different type of Spaniel to a Springer Spaniel. Working Cockers do sometimes appear very similar to some of the smaller slighter Working Springer Spaniels. Cocker Spaniels beacame split from the Field Spaniel and the Springer Spaniel when a 'smaller' dog was required to specialise in hunting Woodcock. Unlike large 'Show' Springers - some people who breed Springers for working - prefer the smaller size resulting in the similarity.
I think it is hard to tell some sprockers from cockers and some working cockers look like smaller springers, and within springers even the working ones specifically you get the shorter stumpier thicker set and then you get the leggier slimmer ones, all of which are pedigree working springers! I know of two sprockers, one is much more like a cocker and the other is much more like a small springer, the face in particular seems to favour more highly one or the other! Very confusing without adding in the field, welsh and all other sorts!
If cockers and springers were once the same dog and were then split in 1910, how did the different variation in coat colour and pattern emerge in the cocker? Springers you get L&W and B&W, solid patches generally. In cockers obviously you get solid patches and roans with black and tan, tri colour, lemon, orange etc. How did this come about?
I'll ask for you to make sure, but I believe it's the addition of a number of other dogs that gives you roaning etc, setters, possibly collies, can't remember off hand, but I know who to ask. Like any breed 'type' there were a lot of dogs used to form the shape and ability working folk wanted, some would say there still is the odd unofficial experiment that goes on ;-) I know some serious spaniel folk won't touch certain lines, because they believe the dogs are influenced greatly still by the 'other' breed(s) they were all formed from in the first place. Miggin, the pup I've got on here, isn't the cup of tea for a lot of traditional cocker people, he's too large and rangey, although he's most certainly all cocker! Having said that, he's only six months old, so if he stays the size he is, then he won't be too large and rangey, but he is built like a bloomin tank, very, very muscular!!
I've never seen a blue roan working cocker? Do they exist? I thought there was the Norfolk spaniel that then became the cocking spaniel, the largest from which the Springer were bred from? Either way, I can't imagine a blue roan cocker looking anything like a Springer.
Fudgeley is getting a blue roan called Buttons And I thought it was a speckled Springer - I now can tell a springer from a cocker apart unless they're crossed damn crosses!!! ;-)
Yes they do exist, I've seen a few. I've also seen lemon roan/lemon and white, tri-colour, red roan, to name a few.
In fact here you go, Frances at Contrail has a few more unusual colours, she bred Miggin. http://www.contrailcockers.co.uk/